Diananda Chairunisa targeting the upcoming Olympics

Diananda Chairunisa apologize for not being able to win a gold medal for Indonesia. (photo: IO/INASGOC)

IO – A tear rolled down Diananda Chairunisa’s cheek after she failed to claim the gold medal for recurve archery in Asian Games 2018 Ja­karta-Palembang. Nisa, as she likes to be called, lost in the final to Chi­na’s Zhang Xinyan by a final score of 3-7 in the Gelora Bung Karno Archery Field, Tuesday, August 28.

“I apologize for not being able to win a gold medal for Indonesia,” she said at the press conference. Before the press conference, Nisa cried at length in the arms of her mother and father, Ratih Widya­ti and Zainudin. Diananda even asked reporters to delay the press conference, although she ended up going through it anyway.

Unfortunately, failing to win gold means she will not automat­ically qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which she would love to participate in.

“My next target is to compete in the 2020 Olympics. I have to pre­pare to go through a series of qual­ifying events,” she said.

Diananda told her mother she could not sleep the night before the final. “She called me saying she could not sleep. She usually sleeps at 8 pm and she called me at 9 pm,” said her mother.

Diananda has practiced archery since she was in the second grade of elementary school. She followed in the footsteps of her mother, who is also an archery athlete, while her father is a martial artist.

She chose archery instead of martial arts. “’Ma, martial arts hurts doesn’t it? I choose archery,’ she said at the time,” Ratih re­called.

Who is favorited in the coming 2020 Olympics? “The opponents will be about the same: world ar­chery is also dominated by Asian athletes,” she asserted.

Stay positive Diananda! You are still an Indonesian sports hero! (erpe)